Fantasy Baseball Today - Raleigh's Historic Season, Injury Replacements & Buy or Sell! (9/17 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

Connelly Early did it again (3:00)! ... James Wood has not looked right in the second half (8:40). ... Cal Raleigh continues to make history (12:15). ... Shohei Ohtani hit his 50th homer in a game he threw five no-hit innings (16:15). ... News (20:15): Yordan Alvarez is dealing with a significant ankle sprain. ... Trent Grisham continues to hit for power (28:36). ... Any interest in Joey Cantillo or Michael McGreevy in the final week (40:06)? ... These pitchers struggled on Tuesday (41:35). ... BUY OR SELL (49:42): Chris Sale is a Hall of Famer. ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:01:54). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, September 17th. I am Frank Stanful, joined by Chris Towers today on the show.

Injury replacements for your. Jordan Alvarez and Zach Netto, the final 10 days of the season here, buy or sell, and more history made by both Cal Rale and Shohe Otani. They are amazing. Let's jump in. All right, Chris, let's kick things off on the positive side, and then we'll get over to your player of the night. Connolly Early, another strong start here against the athletics.

Both of his starts have come against the A's here. Five and a third innings, one run, seven strikeouts to zero walks, 14 whiffs on 80 pitches, five of those on the changeup. Four on the sinker here. He tied the Red Sox record with 18 strikeouts through his first two starts. He limited the hard contact. Change up the pitch mix here in his second start. So kind of showing that he can still get outs and generate whiffs with multiple pitches,

different pitches than he did in his first start. And one of the biggest things, just one walk too, in his first two starts. Control was kind of a problem for Connolly early in the miners, and maybe it still will be, you know, as we get further into his career. But so far, so good. He is 49% rostered. He's at Tampa Bay this weekend, I think, because it was, we didn't really know when he was going to start coming into the week. I think he'll make another start this weekend, and then he'll get the Tigers over the final week. But he's looked so good, and the league hasn't really seen him that maybe he can just continue to overpower people for these final two starts.

Yeah, I mean, the control in the miners was not great, but it wasn't Jacob Mizirowski bad. He wasn't walking 12 to 14 percent of hitters. He was pretty consistently in the 8.5 to 9.5 percent range, which is maybe a little higher than average. I think the league average is around 8 percent these days. But specifically with pitchers, it's always so hard to know how much of their minor league numbers to take at face value because a lot of the times these guys are working on specific things and not necessarily focused all the time on getting hitters out. And, you know, in this case, he has looked, I mean, he was terrific in the minors regardless of the control issues. And he was, you know, one of the big

breakouts for the Red Sox and a big pitching development win. They've had a couple of them. And I don't know. I think you just buy it. I think you just look at what he's done the first two starts. It's only likely one more start anyway. So the stakes are especially low at this point in the season. But looking ahead to 2026, this looks like a pretty exciting breakout candidate that we're going to be talking a lot about this off season. For those who aren't aware, he has, he had a 260 ERA across both AA and AAA. He's only 23 years old.

So he wasn't old for the levels. Is he still 23? Yeah, he's still 23 until just after opening day. Tons of strikeouts, average-ish control, a lot of ground balls, not a lot of home runs. He just kind of did everything well. And now he's done this in his first two major league starts. And maybe it all goes horribly in his next start, or maybe he gets to the postseason and looks terribly overmatched. I think he's one of the Red Sox three.

best starters right now and I'm not sure he's number three. Um, am I forgetting anyone? They have obviously crochet at the top, but then it's like Gileo or Beio. Geolito. Yeah. I mean, those guys are more proven certainly, but I don't know if the upside for either of them is especially high.

I think it might be for early. So I really like what, what we've seen so far from him. It's been a good amount of whiffs across both starts. And I'm, it's. going to be really exciting to talk about him and see where he ends up going in 2026. Yeah, I mean, the biggest talking point in the second half has been all these rookie pitchers, right? So we will have no shortage of sleeper slash breakout candidates for next season from Connolly Early to all of the Mets pitchers. I think Nolan McLean has

very clearly kind of put himself at the top of the list. Well, he's probably going to Chase Burns, I think, is at the top of the list. He came earlier. He was promoted in June. But as good as Nolan McLean has looked. He's been awesome, but let's not forget. Chase Burns had four straight 10 to check out games. I agree with you completely.

I just wonder if their ADPs next season might be pretty close, actually. If that's the case or if people want to take McLean ahead of Burns, I will let them. I like McLean a lot. I like Burns more. And obviously, Mizorowski is in that discussion as well. there's Bubba Chandler and yeah Bobba Chandler finally had a good start Peyton Tolly will probably be excited about Cam Schlittler again even I know it's gone poorly for Jonah Tong and Brandon Sprott hasn't been dominant but I'm excited about what those guys have next year too so yeah a lot of a lot of these guys in the second half to to be pretty excited about for 2026 matchups aside who would you rather I guess add for the final week of the season Connolly early or Traia Savage yeah I forgot about him um Oh man. Savage was really impressive, but...

Early sample size is double your savages. So I'll just go with that one. It's not like Yassavage was more impressive in his first start. Like, let's forget. Connerally early, I think was the 17th pitcher in Major League history with 11 strikeouts or more in his first major league start. Yeah. That is incredible stuff.

Yeah, I don't think that there is a wrong answer. there could turn out to be one if one of those pitchers gets rocked or doesn't pitch well. But I'll probably just lean with you Savage because he's the better prospect. But they both have looked amazing so far. Very small sample size. I get that. Player of the night for you, Chris. All right, let's turn things around, turn that frown upside.

Wait, no, that would be the other way. James Wood, he has been very, very bad in the second half. Yeah, drown that smile in the Nile? I don't know about that. But yeah, James Wood, it's just he went 0 for 5 with four strikeouts in the first game of the double header. Then was benched for the second game. I don't know, benched. He was out of the lineup for the second game.

They are facing Chris Sale, so tough lefty. Yeah, he's been really bad in the second half of the season. And we talked yesterday, I think, about, you know, I was very surprised to realize he only has 15 stolen bases in 148 games. Remember, he's still 14 in 79 games. He only has three in the second half. his strikeout rate in the month of September is up to 42%. That's really bad. It was 36% in August.

That's also really bad. It was 40% in July. So we are going on three months now of James Wood basically being unplayable. And I'm starting to wonder if he's hurt. Now, there's been, I don't think he's missed a single game. The home run derby. Yeah, the home run derby, we screwed him up. Yeah, that's, that's, no, he, um, he hasn't missed a game with an injury in his major

league career as far as I could find, but he did have a quad tendonitis issue in the spring that delayed his start. Obviously, it didn't really slow him down very much, but, you know, you look at the month by month, he only had three steals at the end of April. He had six in May, but then he hasn't had more than three in a month since then. His sprint speed has fallen from 85th percentile to 60th percentile. Did I do this on his birthday? Oh, now I feel bad.

I think it's James Wood's birthday today. Happy birthday, 23 years old. I wish I was 23. What a jerk I am. Unbelievable. I take it all back. No, but I'm just, I wanted to point this out because he's been so bad. And I know there's been, you know, some talk about that and what's gone wrong

for him. I think part of it is probably he's just not a finished product. He's still doing a lot good, really holding his own against lefties, really impressively. Ten of his 27 home runs have come against lefties this season. That's very impressive for a young lefty. But I'm, I just feel like we're going to find out in, you know, early October that James Wood was playing through something in the second half. That's the, that's the thing that would make the most sense to me because of the drop in sprint speed especially. So Scott, we were talking about this yesterday, just put out an article projecting the first two rounds for next season.

And unsurprisingly, James Wood was not in it. When we did this exercise at the All-Star break, I think we had him as a late first round pick. Obviously, with as bad as the second half has been, Scott has both James Wood and Pete Crow Armstrong on the outside looking in. So perhaps an early third round pick. And look, there might be still, there might still be people that are so sold on the upside and the power speed combination of both of those guys that they still sneak into the top two rounds. But they're on that fringe, whereas at the break, they were looking like kind of clear, you know, first or early second round players, both James Wood and Pete Crow Armstrong.

Speaking of early round players, some more amazing games from Cow Raleigh and Shohe Otani. Cal Raleigh, three for five with a double dong, three runs, three RBI. He is now up to 56 home runs. He broke Mickey Mantle's single season record for most homers by a switch hitter, and he did that as a catcher, mind you. He also tied Ken Griffey Jr. for the single season Mariners home run record, and with 10 or 11 games left to go, I have to imagine Cal Raleigh will wind up breaking that record. So, there's still a decent chance he gets to 60.

Yeah? That just, to happen, what, twice in three years, that would be unbelievable. He's got, what, 11 games left now? And he's hit 56 in 151 games? That's, he's probably on pace. And he probably just needs to keep his season pace. And obviously, look, 11 games, one bad week can screw that up. But a couple of two homer games gets him there.

too. That's remarkable. I will say there's been a lot of chatter about the MVP race in the American League over the past couple of days and I'm starting to see some like, it has to be one guy or it has to. And like, I don't know how you can have a strong feeling about this one. Like this is one that just, it's like the Otani judge one from a couple years ago. The only wrong answer is someone who's not those two guys. I think you can make any case for Judge or Raleigh as the MVP, and I will buy it. They're both having just unbelievable seasons. Yeah, and I said this last week with Scott that obviously as a Yankees fan, I want Judge to win it,

but again, Cal Raleigh, I mean, it's a historic season, and it comes from a catcher too on a team that's going to make the playoffs. Not that that should matter, but sometimes I think voters do kind of factor that in. So there's no, yeah. Yeah. And their fan graphs wore before this game for Cal Raleigh. It was 8.8 for Judge, 8.1 for Cal Raleigh. And that's one of those things where I almost feel like putting the decimal place on Winds above replacement was a mistake

because it implies a degree of certainty that doesn't really exist. These are estimates of value and it's fuzzy, right? Like, Judge is 8.7. Well, that means it's more like 9.2 to 8.2. right like we're we're guessing and and stuff like leverage matters and who's been clutch and and rally at 5 8.1 it's probably going to be even higher after this one it's one of those things where it's just like if you're feeling confident that Aaron judge is definitely better than cow rally this season because he has a 0.7 or 0.5 war edge you're doing it wrong you're you're

interpreting that stat incorrectly that is basically a tie so it just there's there's no wrong answer here. They're both having, I mean, Aaron Judge has what? This is his fourth season with a 200 OPS plus. I think it's like him and Ted Williams and Babe, like he's in completely rarefired air. It's unbelievable what both of these guys are doing. Yeah, and I know, look, the kind of, I don't know, fair weather baseball fan might, you know, look in from the outside and say, oh, baseball's dying. I don't know, man. There's a lot of talent in baseball. a lot of really cool stuff. I mean, we're watching generational players right now.

I mean, we're about to talk about Otani in a second. Like, Judge is doing things we've never seen before. We're getting the best season ever by a catcher right now. So every single team has eight relievers who can throw 103 miles an hour seemingly. You could argue about... It's a fun time. As a traditionalist, like, yes, the game has changed. It doesn't look the same as it used to look.

But don't get a twisted, man. There's a lot of talent, a lot of awesome things going on in baseball right now. Speaking of which, Shohei Otani, 50th home run in a game that he threw five no-hit innings. So love them or hate him, we are watching one of the best to ever do it right now. And you just have to appreciate that. If you don't, then you're doing it wrong. And I didn't fact-check this, but I saw a tweet from Big Bob Nightingale. O'Tonnie became the sixth player in MLB history with back-to-back 50 home-run seasons,

joining Babe Ruth, Mark McGuire, Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, and Ken Griffey Jr. All right, we got, there's a few more unbelievable stats that we got to throw out here. One, Shohi Otani is the only player in Dodgers history with a 50 homer season. And he's done it in his two seasons with the Dodgers. He's got a lot more. The Dodgers have been playing baseball for a really long time. And they've had a lot of great players. He is the first player with 50 homers and 50 strikeouts in a season.

the runner-up in that list. Babe Ruth had a 50-strikeout or 50-homer three-strikeout season. Also, the Tungsten O'Doyle tweet is still somehow relevant because the Dodgers became the first team since at least 1906 to have a starter go five innings at least with no hits allowed and have their bullpen allow nine runs in a game. They lost this game. Yeah.

Joe Hia Tani had five no-hit innings and hit a home run and they lost. And it wasn't the Angels who did it. Yeah. That's, yeah. And that's the other part about just baseball right now as a whole, looking at the sport, is that it's wide open. Like going into the playoffs, it feels completely open right now. Like there's a lot of parity in the game.

It doesn't feel like there's one team that's kind of running away with it. You can look at the Dodgers roster and say, yes, they're still stacked. They're loaded. I get that. But their bullpen, as you just mentioned, it's really bad. Or at least it's performed that way. So I think that's going to be a problem for them in the postseason as well. So we're, you know, just that's right around the corner and should be a pretty, pretty fun watch there.

Big thanks to those watching live. Make sure to hit that like button and either subscribe if you haven't already or stay subscribed. As we go throughout the off season, we'll be doing position recaves, way too early mock drafts. Chris and I are hoping to do a live podcast from First Pitch, Arizona. So lots of cool things that we'll be doing here in the off season as well. Let's take that break and we'll be back. right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today.

We have some news and notes here and some big injuries to talk about. Astros manager Joe Espada said, Yordon Alvarez is going to be out for a while with a significant left ankle sprain, but that the team is going to play it one day at a time. He has yet to be placed in the IL. And good thing that we have an organization like the Astros

that we can completely trust everything that they're saying when it comes. comes to injuries. They definitely have never messed this up before. I think you definitely take the under on time missed when it comes to the Astros for sure. Yeah. Like he has a significant left angle sprain. He's not playing for the rest of the regular season. I'll just tell you what Joe Espott is saying right here. They're hoping he's back for the playoffs. That's basically it. Pretty much. Zach Cole should see more playing time in his absence. That's a deep league name here. But I've got replacements for shallow leagues, medium leagues, and deeper leagues here, Chris. If there's any other names

that you want to throw in, feel free to go for it. But shallow league outfielders, Trent Grisham, John Carlos Stanton, Daltin Varsho, Austin Hayes, medium leagues, I have Harrison Bader, Dylan Beaver, Dailen Lyle, and Andrew Benintendi, and in deeper leagues, Brandon Marsh,

Cody Clemens, and Parker Meadows. Does that sound right? Those all seem like pretty interesting names. You know, part of the problem is we're at that point in the season where Dalyland Lyle should be much more widely rostered than he is. Yeah. You know, there's just a lot of dead teams out there who might not need.

But he's showing some really interesting skills, has had really high line drive rates throughout his minor league career that suggests that maybe his high batting average might be for real. That's Daly and Lyle. I've talked a ton about Dalton Varsho being under-rastered and Austin Hayes as well. I think both of those are still right around 50%, right? Yeah.

Should be higher. Yeah, yeah. There's some guys out there for sure. And Zach Netto was also placed in the IL with a, not also because Yoron hasn't, but Zach Neda was placed in the IL with a left hand strain retroactive to September 13th. And same thing here,

shallow league replacements. I have Coles of Montgomery, Otto Lopez and Matt McLean as options, medium-sized leagues Jeremiah Jackson, Jake Cronoanworth, Brooks Lee, and Hassan Kim, and in deeper leagues, Jared Triolo, Chase Midroth,

and Blaze Alexander. It is really, really hard, as I have learned, doing a waiver wire column every weekend. It is really hard to find options at shortstop who aren't widely rostered. So it's a bad position to need replacements for because you're either a difference maker or you're kind of nobody. Brooks Lee's okay. Hassan Kim, I think, is fine. Obviously, you'd prefer Montgomery or Lopez if they're available. Wilson Gattreras has been diagnosed with a mild right bicep strain.

He missed Tuesday night. We'll be out on Wednesday. And if he's not better by Friday, he will go on the IL and that would end his season. Good thing here is there is no shortage of catcher replacements. Take your pick from Drake Baldwin to Samuel Bessio, Kyle Teal. Kyle Teal is still only 50% rostered. Yep, yep. Edgar Carrow's doing stuff still.

Carter Jensen had a huge game today, two home runs. he's been looking solid at least had a big breakout season at triple a so uh yeah catcher i don't know i did my catcher rankings and like logan o hoppy's 22 dalton rushing's 23 uh i remember tyler stevenson was like the number 12 catcher coming into the season i don't even think he's going to be top 24 this season it's it's a ryan jeffers has been decent he's way down there it's uh it's a it's a it's a Fun time at the position for sure. Terrick Scuba is officially listed as the starter for Thursday's game against the Guardians.

Bobauchette could be back in time for the playoffs, but it sounds like he will miss the rest of the regular season with that PCL sprain. Trevor McGill will be re-evaluated after feeling soreness following a live batting practice session. Daniel Palencia joined the Cubs for their road trip in Pittsburgh and threw off a mound on Monday for the first time since going on the aisle. He's currently out with a left shoulder strain. I get that he joined I hear that he joined the team but I with a shoulder strain I just do not think he's going to be back

for the regular season I could be wrong about that but I feel like another one where they're just hoping to maybe build him back up and have him ready to go for the postseason if that Francisco Alvarez left Tuesday's game after getting hit by a pitch on his elbow that sucks

that guy is just man he's so beat up right now how many times has he been hit by a pitch this season it feels like all of his injuries have come from that it's been pretty crazy. And even with that, he still has hit the ball pretty well since coming back up from the minors around, I don't know, sometime in July or August. Yeah, he was not in my top 12 for 2026

and wasn't really even in the conversation, but I still think there's a lot. Like, he's going to be a high priority catcher two for me next season, especially if people sleep on the growth he showed after coming back from AAA. Because I still think Francisco Alvarez is still only like 24, right? He might even be 23. He's super young.

So I like him a lot for next season. Can I add a couple of things before we move on? Yep. I saw Josh Hader talked for the first time about his injury. I think he's another one probably not going to be back for the first round of the playoffs, but he's aiming for maybe the second or third round. If they make it that far. Hopefully not.

And I wanted to add on show. Shohei Otani. He got five innings pulled after 68 pitches. I saw a lot of grumbling about that on social media. That was known. They talked about this, I think, a month ago. Yeah, they said he won't throw more than five innings. Won't throw more than five innings in a start. It's either 80 pitches or five innings, basically. Whichever comes first. So as frustrating as that is, that's the, that's what was going on there because he only threw 68 pitches before being pulled from that no hitbed. Edward Cabrero will face hitters in a simulated game on Wednesday. He's been out since late August with an elbow sprain. Seth Lugo has been shut down from throwing for a few days after experiencing discomfort in his back following a bullpen session. Tyler Soderstrom has missed four straight with groin tightness, but I saw he appeared as a pinch hitter. And I think he had a RBI double in that game. So maybe back in the lineup Wednesday or Thursday for Sotershom.

Sayas Suzuki has missed five straight with an undisclosed illness. Anthony Volpe returned to the lineup after missing six straight with that shoulder injury. Xavier Edwards has missed three straight with a wrist injury. Jose Katana has been diagnosed with a mild left cash strain, and the Pirates promoted, you guessed it. Another catcher prospect, Rafael Flores, whom they received from the Yankees in the David Bednar trade. He's 24 years old, had a nice season in the minors, 280 batting average, 22 homers, 88 RBI, 6 steals, an 825 OPS, exit velocities are not impressive but overall it was a

great offensive season for him so it's not really actionable for leagues now I mean maybe NL only leagues with two catchers or something like that but you know let's see what he can do and maybe he's trying for the Pirates opening day

catcher job next season and just want to point out like I don't know half the league this is an exaggeration but like there are several recent Yankees catcher prospects out there. I don't know what the Yankees have done with their player development, but they are just churn.

Like Carlos Navillas was a Yankees catcher. Augustine Ramirez was a Yankees catcher. Now Raphael Flores. And obviously the Yankees have Austin Wells and Ben Rice, two very good catchers in their owner. I don't know who is in charge of catcher development in the Yankees organization. But that dude needs a race. And they have another one that they traded away to the Giants

in the Camillo DeVal trade. Jesus Rodriguez, who's supposed to be a really good hitter as well. So perhaps we'll see him making an impact with them next season with the Giants there. Some waiver wire hitters to run through here and quickly talk about. Trent Grisham hit his 31st home run. Three RBI. He has 10 home runs in his past 25 games. He's also hitting just 2.13 during that span.

So perhaps selling out for power a bit. He's up to 76% rostered, you know, Chalo League name. Yoron Alvarez. of Reservant replacement, as I mentioned earlier. Samuel Bessio, one for four with his third home run, two RBI, three hard hits in this game, two over 106 miles per hour. Just wanted to take a second to evaluate what we've seen from Samuel Bessio so far. Obviously, small sample size, he's hitting 188.

He has three homers, 615 OPS. He actually has had some big real life moments, walk off hits and things like that. The exit velocities are interesting, but lots of ground balls so far. So what have you made so far, Chris, from Samuel Bessio? We have talked a lot about over the past couple of years, how most prospects seem to need about a month, maybe two, to get their feet under them at the major league level. And I would think that especially holds true for catchers.

It's not always true. Augustine Ramirez was very good right from the jump, but Kyle Teal was an example of a guy who took a little while to figure it out. And I think when you're looking at Bessio, the most important thing is just he doesn't really look. overwhelmed, right? He hasn't made a huge impact yet, but, you know, the strike rate, 22%, that's manageable. He's hitting the ball hard. You'd like to see him elevated a bit more, but all in all, given his age, I think he's just 21 and just turned 21, if I'm remembering correctly, and given the situation

that he's in, playing catcher at the major league level, when he was expected to be more of a DH, I think you have to be very happy with what we've seen from Samuel Bessio, even if he hasn't been an impact player. He's not going to be a top 12 catcher for me in 2026, at least not. At the moment, I do have him right behind Gabriam Moreno, who's number 12, and Adley Ruchman. Although I think that's going to be an interesting one for 2026 as well.

Yeah. And he'll especially be interesting Samuel Bessio for next season in regards to his best. playing time because if we get some kind of indication that he's just going to be their DH or first baseman and he has that added you know those added plate appearances that'll just boost him up even higher as a catcher for fantasy so would like him to get exactly 20 appearances behind the plate next season yeah no more no less yeah and then 142 at dh and first base that that would be the ideal I would love to see that you mentioned the name Kyle teal stayed hot here

two for five with his eighth home run. All eight of those homers have come here in the second half where he's hitting 303, 24 runs, 27 RBI, two steals, 876 OPS. He's 46% rostered. If we're just talking, comparing these two, again, there's not much time left in the season. Obviously, Teal has been much better. So if you need a Wilson-Cutreras replacement, I would take Teal over San Walsasio. But man, just another one on a long list of interesting catcher names. Yeah, and I have Teal in the top 12 right now. He's number 11. I think less upside than Bessayo. It's hard to see Kyle Teal being the best catcher in fantasy.

I can see it with Samuel Bessio. So, you know, if you're talking more of a late round number one catcher and you want to take a flyer next year on Sam L. Bessio ahead of Kyle Teal, I would take Teal. He's just, he's been, he's doing it right now. But I think the upside in a one catcher league is probably tilted towards Bessio. side. Although Teal is going to get his time at DH2. You know, because they've got Cairo. Those two guys have been basically in the lineup

pretty much every day. So there's there's a lot of playing time potential for Kyle Teal as well. Yeah, I think he can come close to being a kind of JT Real Muto light. Yes. Maybe a little bit more batting average upside, I think for Kyle Teal. Maybe a little bit less power or something like that. But I would say more like the early career J.T. Real where he was more of like a eight to 12 stolen base guy, but I think Kyle Teal has that potential. But, you know, J.T. Romuto early on his career was basically hitting like 275, 280 with 15 homers and eight to 10 steals most seasons. Yeah, I think that's pretty reasonable and might be underselling Kyle Teal a little bit. Next up Caleb Durbin, two for four with a run to RBI and his 16th steel.

last 32 games. He's hitting 284 with six homers, six deals, and OPS over 850, 43% rostered, second and third base eligibility. We didn't exactly know what to expect from Caleb Durbin coming into the season, but he's turned out to be a kind of low-end, decently productive player from like a corner or middle infield perspective. Yeah, he's been solid. Not spectacular, but he's, you know, you look at the underlying data and over the last 100 plate appearances, which I would assume coincides with that 32 game stretch you're tying up pretty nicely. Ex Wobos up to 363.

He's never going to hit the ball hard, but he has that lift and pull approach. And the Brewers know how to maximize guys like this. They seem to have like nine of them on their roster. So yeah. Yeah, he's been pretty solid. Yeah. And one more name here. Dylan Bevers continues to impress two for five with a triple, a homer,

three RBI. He's played 26 games so far. He has a 420 on pace percentage with two homers, one steel. Not much power and speed yet. I think we can get there. But the fact that he has that OBP and 858 OPS, really good eye at the plate so far. 20 walks to 25 strikeouts, 30% rostered. Yeah, another name where if you lost Yordon Alvarez, you just need an outfielder in five outfielder leagues. The profile looks like, you know, long term he'll kind of play better in a head-to-head points league. But I do think there's some kind of untapped power speed that we haven't seen yet in the majors. There's a little bit of, you know, Jacob Marcy here, maybe less stolen base upside, although

weirdly he is faster than Marcy, but Marcy's just, Marcy's one of those guys. It's just this 60th percentile sprint speed, but he just runs like crazy and did in the minors, and Beavers wasn't that. But Beaver's is like 85th percentile, but he's got a real. good approach at the plate Dylan Beaver's does, not swinging at bad pitches at all. There's a little more whiff than you'd like for a guy who isn't hitting the ball that hard, but on the whole, I think you have to be very impressed with what Dylan Beaver's has done. And I think he's clearly cemented a starting spot on the Orioles next season.

Some waiver wire hitters in deeper leagues, Dominic Canzon, with the game of his life, five for five with a triple dong, four runs, four RBI. He probably should have been our, oh my goodness gracious. player of the night. The problem is he just doesn't play very much. There's just nothing to say there, yeah. Yeah, has started back-to-back games, but he sat out seven of eight before that. The stat cast numbers

are really, really impressive here. I just don't think he's going to play all that much. Andrew Benintendi continues to hit one for three with his 20th home run, last 20 games for him, 311 batting average, six homers, OPS over 900. Trevor Larnick had himself a big game, one for two, with two walks,

a sock and a shoe, his 17th home run, his fourth steal. I still think there's some talent there, maybe some untapped potential. He has started against five of the past seven lefties that they've played as well. And welcome to the bigs Carter Jensen. You mentioned his name as well. His first huge game, three for four with two homers, three runs, three RBI, and he was a monster in the minors this season. Anything to add on Jensen, Larnick, Benintendi, or Dominic Canzon. Yeah, we touched on Jensen a little bit earlier, I think, or was that before the show? I can't remember it.

We mentioned his name already sitting. But that's one that you want to keep an eye on because if the Royals hint that they're going to play Salvador Perez more at D.H. or first base in the offseason, Carter Jensen could be a really nice number two catcher for next season. And I think what that's going to come down to is, well, one, Jack Hedillon needs to make the team in 2026,

which is not a guarantee because he's not playing every day. day right now. He's been very bad both defensively and offensively. But if they talk about him as a full-time outfielder for next season rather than like a DH type, then there could be a path to Perez catching Jensen splitting time there and maybe getting some DH opportunities because he's played a few. He started a few games at DH himself as well. Just wanted to mention those stat cast numbers on Canzone. 92 mile per hour average exit velocity, 13% barrel rate. 290 XBA, 499 X-Lug, and that was before this game. So those numbers are only going to go up.

Again, he's only played 72 games this season. He has performed well. It's just, he's probably earned himself a few more starts here with a game like this. Maybe he only plays against Ritey's. I would like to see what he could do with maybe more consistent playing time, but perhaps that's something for next year as well. There's another guy. It's like Pavin Smith, where, like, he's productive when he's in the lineup.

But he's just a platoon bat, and he's not really even like an everyday platoon bat, you know? Yeah. That's the thing that's tough with Dominic Kinzo. Let's take our final break. When we return, I have three waiver wire pitchers to ask about, and then we'll get into some more discussion for next season. I've got some buyer sell, things like that.

We'll do it right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Waiverwire pitchers. Can you see yourself using any of these next week? Joey Cantillo. solid outing at the Tigers, five innings, one run, three strikeouts. Last five starts, he has a 121 ERA and a 105 whip. He gets the Tigers again next week.

Michael McGreevy, a strong start against the Reds, seven shutout innings with six strikeouts here. He has gone six innings in eight of his last nine, and he's at the Giants next week. Sean Manaya, kind of hard to evaluate because he's pitching out of the bullpen now, but he pitched well here in long relief, five innings, one run, four strikeouts, zero walks, had given up, Four plus earned runs in six of his previous seven outings before this one.

Still 63% roster. That actually seems very high for Sean Mania. But can you see yourself using any of these names? Probably only in deeper leagues, I would imagine. Yeah, like, McGreevy's matchup isn't terrible next week, but I can't say any of these three guys really excites me. Cantillo has had good results lately, but I don't really buy it. His change-up is good.

That's kind of the only standout pitch that he has. though. And his fastball is pretty bad. He gets, if I'm remembering correctly, he has some of the worst extension of any pitcher in baseball, which is probably why the fastball. But no, he gets a good extension. It's just bad shape on the fastball. So yeah, I just, I don't see much reason to get excited about any of these three guys, unfortunately. All right, we had some rough pitcher outings here on Tuesday night. Paul Skeens against the Cubs. We're not used to seeing this. Three and two-thirds innings, seven hits, three runs, three walks, six strikeouts. He still had 13 whiffs on 92 pitches. It was his shortest start of the season. Also, his first start with more than two

walks since June 19th. So I remember that was kind of an issue for him for a little bit. Yeah, well, Chris, he's human. I don't know that there's much else to add. Nothing. Nothing. I mean, oh, no, he has, he doesn't have a sub two ERA for the first time in his career. That will probably change before the end of the season. I mean, he's going to get one more shot to get it under there, yeah. Michael King got bombed by the Mets. Three innings, ten hits allowed, eight earned runs, four homers allowed in this one. This was actually a career high in runs allowed for Michael King.

He gave up nine hard hits in this game as well. He's at the White Sox this weekend if you kind of, if you throw them out there for the two starts. And then gets the debacks next week. So I don't think that I would want to use Michael King against the debacks next week. So here's what I'm struggling with, right? is like, we're going to talk about Yuri Perez, I assume, at some point. He's great. He was great. His last two starts have been good. And those two starts came immediately after we were like, you can't use him.

You just can't use him right now. And that was reasonable. And then he's had two good starts in a row. The same thing could happen with Michael Kang. It's something that I've talked about a lot lately, but long-term track records are generally more predictive than recent trends, even though it doesn't feel like that should be the case. But that's assuming that talent is static. And Michael King has missed a lot of time with injuries this season,

including one to his shoulder. It was a nerve issue in his shoulder. He has five, let me see if I can remember it. I wrote it down earlier. Five strikeouts to three walks with 12 earned runs and 10 innings over his last three starts. And that's a long time table because one of those was his first start back. from that elbow issue, and then I can't remember what the second injury was. It's like an abdominal injury or a hamstring.

Hamstring or quad, something with his body that he came back from after a month and didn't really have a rehab assignment. And I just, I would probably try to avoid him for his final two starts if I could. It was a knee injury. knee, okay. A knee injury there for... I told you, it was something with his body. Yes, you did tell us that.

Cam Schlittler struggled with control at the twins, four and two-thirds innings, four runs allowed, five walks to six strikeouts, only through 55% of his pitches for strikes. And, yeah, this is now two of his last restarts have been very bad. Obviously, he was great before that. He gets the Orioles this weekend and then the Orioles again in the final week. So where are we at on?

Cam Schlittler. I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially because in this one, it was the control. And that hasn't really been an issue for him so far in his major league career. So I think it's okay to give the benefit of the doubt on that one. He had a pretty good walk rate at the minor league level was 8.4% as well. So I think this is one of those stuff happens kind of starts. Next up, Merrill Kelly got rocked at the.

the Astros, three innings, nine hits, six earn runs allowed, and eight starts before this with the Rangers, 319 ERA and a 108 whip. So this kind of feels like another stuff happens with Merrill Cohn. And he's got the twins next week. I'm starting Merrill Kelly. The only thing I'll add about the twins right now is that they're pesky, man. They are, and their numbers actually kind of grayed out pretty well. Over the last 14 days, they are sixth in Wobah as a team. So they're, you know, it's a lot of guys that are kind of trying to prove something. And so they're going out there and they're playing like it. Cody Clemens is doing a lot of work right now.

You know, it is hard to buy into. But that's noted. I would still expect, I would still expect Merrill Kelly to bounce back. Sorry, I just got distracted. I saw a stat. Over the past 10 games, the Dodgers starters have a 175 ERA while averaging six in a third innings per start. The bullpen has a 736 ERA. Oh, that's not going to get it done.

That's bad. It's bad. It's not good. Ryan Pebio was terrible at his first start after dealing with fatigue. Remember, he missed his last start because of he was dealing with that. And against the Blue Jays here, one in two thirds innings, four hits, four runs, three walks, three strikeouts, through just 59% of his pitch's first strikes. It's a tough matchup.

The Blue Jays are a great offense. Obviously, he didn't have much here. He had three straight scoreless outings before this one, and before he got scratched with that fatigue. He's home against the Red Sox this weekend, and then at the Blue Jays in the final week. So don't think I want to do it with Pepio either. I don't love that, yeah.

Am I, I'm trying to find it. Did he have a similar situation last season where he kind of ran out of steam and they skipped a starter too? I don't remember off the top of my head. No, no, I'm not seeing anything. He had a left leg injury. He had that infection in his knee last summer.

Right. That was weird. I said it during the to stream or not to stream segment yesterday, I think, or whenever we talked about him, I didn't trust him in the first game back from the fatigue, and I'm not going to trust him for these final two starts. They're tough matchups, and sure seems like he's running out of steam here at the end of the season. He didn't have the feel for his changeup, especially in this one. That one got hit hard. It was actually kind of one of those ones where you look at the overall start and like obviously the results were bad, but he actually didn't give up a ton of hard contact.

It was just, you know, seems like bad sequencing, I guess, but overall he didn't pitch well. And the control was bad. You know, three walks and inning and two thirds. And then given that it was coming back from the fatigue and the start missed, I think it's reasonable to. to just try to avoid him if you can. I do want to use this opportunity just to mention, I guess, tuck this away for next season. If the raise are indeed back in Tropicana Field next year,

that's the plan. This is our opportunity to buy low on race pitchers, assuming that the market doesn't catch up to it, but I absolutely can see being back in on Ryan Pepeo or Shane Boz or Ian Seymour as a sleeper slash breakout if they're pitching in the Trop next year because, again, that is a ballpark. that has been more conducive to strikeouts and end stuff plus.

It kind of like levels up pitching all around. So yeah, I'd be looking to buy back in on race pitchers again next season. Yeah, just for some context, Tropicana Field had the third best park factor for pitchers in the three years preceding this year, and that included the second best park factor for strikeouts. So it's not exactly clear what the, the physics are behind that,

but pitches move differently at Tropicana Field. The best explanation I've seen is that it's the only completely closed stadium. It's the only full dome, not retractable, and so it's the only fully climate-controlled stadium. And so there's a lack of wind or a lack of air, whatever the explanation is that causes pitches, and specifically fastballs tend to play much better at Tropicana Field than they do elsewhere. Buy or sell.

First up we have Chris Sale, who was filthy at the Nationals eight shutout innings with nine strikeouts to zero walks. He has exactly nine strikeouts in all four starts since returning. He has a quality start in three of those four outings as well. Chris, buy or sell that Chris Sale will be a Hall of Famer. This one actually doesn't even feel like a tough call to me. I think Chris Sale is fairly obviously a Hall of Famer. I agree. Maybe he needs to do a little bit of extra work at the end of the career to, you know, get up to 60 war, which if he just has a normal Chris Stale season next year, he would get to.

But he is one of, if not the all-time leader in strikeout to walk ratio. One of the all-time leaders in strikeout rate. He has a career 301-ERA pitching, you know, a significant point. portion of his career in Boston. And no signs of slowing down. Yeah, no, that's the thing is that like he's had all these injuries, but when he's on the mound lately, he remains phenomenal. I thought you were going to ask that he, if he's the number four SP for next season,

because I think that's where I'm going to land. All right. Well, just wait because next up, Logan Gilbert fell one out short of a quality start at the Royals. Five and two thirds innings, two runs with five strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 89 pitches, did give up some hard contact in this outing, but he's allowed three earn runs or fewer in five straight. Buy or sell, Logan Gilbert will be drafted ahead of Chris Sale next season. So I think I wrote about this last week or the week before, and part of why I'm leaning

towards sales, my SP4 is I think you can look at Logan Gilbert and Chris Sale and say the talent is pretty close. You know, Logan Gilbert's had a big leap in strikeout with this season. It hasn't been reflected in his ERA, but his XERA is the best it's ever been. He's remained an elite control pitcher. I think there's a ton to like there. But I know Chris Sale has missed a lot of time with injury. I think Logan Gilbert missing time this season with a flexor strain in his elbow should be a bigger red flag moving forward than Chris Sails variety of like injured, like fractured limbs basically. Like he broke his wrist, he broke his pinky. He broke. He broke. He broke a rib on one side, a rib on the other.

It's not even like it was the same rib and you could be like, well, it just never healed. It's, like, it's just, it's been like freak injury after freak injury. And he hasn't really had, I think he had a shoulder injury at the end of 2023. But other than that, Chris Sale has not had like a pitching related injury. I guess one of them was a comebacker that broke his pinky. But other than that, he hasn't had a pitching related injury. So with the skill set fully intact, I think I'm going to take Chris Sale ahead of Logan Gilbert,

so I will sell this one. I think I might take Yamamoto ahead of Logan Gilbert as well, but haven't completely dug into starting pitcher rankings for next season. I think it's just a volume thing that holds Yamamoto back just a little bit. It does. But man, you said it, that kind of elbow flexor thing with Gilbert. Now Yamamoto had to. the shoulder injury last year, but his most recent season has been healthy while Logan

Gilbert. Very good track record of health in Japan. Yeah. Yeah. So it's close, but, you know, those three kind of feel like the next step in pitcher rankings for next season. What about Freddie Peralta? Another great start this time against the Angels. Six innings of one run ball with 10 strikeouts, had 20 whiffs on 94 pitches. And you guessed it, 12 of those came on the fastball because the Angels just cannot hit fastballs. Freddie Peralta has been good, regardless of who he's faced. One earn, runner, fewer in seven of his last eight starts.

He has eight plus strikeouts in four straight. Buy or sell, Freddie Peralta will be drafted as a top 12 starting pitcher next season. He shouldn't be. Whether he will be is a separate question, but I would guess not. It feels like there's always been a little bit of like a, fantasy players have kind of always held Freddie Peralta a little bit at arm's length.

I drafted a ton of him this season. I was very excited about the bounce back potential. I did not expect him to be this good. I don't expect him to be this good next year either. And this is a guy who has missed a lot of time. He's had a lot of trouble. Even when he's been healthy, this is going to be if he gets there the first time he throws 180 innings in a season.

Now, he's made 30 starts and three straight seasons. seasons, so that's a good sign. But he's one of those guys whose whip has often been less helpful than you'd think. He's probably more like a 335 to 350 ERA pitcher. I think he's really good, but I think coming off of a season like this, he's got a little bit of that Blake Snell-Dill-Dillan-Sease thing where I think you want to buy him off the dip and sell him at the height of his price. Friday Peralta, by the way, up to 17 wins now.

That is tied for the league lead with Max Freed. So not a stat we talk about often, but it's obviously a useful one still for fantasy. Is he going to be a Siong finisher? I don't think he's going to be like a finalist. Like, is he going to be a finalist? I don't think he's going to be the winner. It's going to be Paul Skeen's.

Maybe Christopher Sanchez, but I think something weird who have to happen. Oh, Yamamoto. Yeah, Yamamoto. I think Skeens, Yamamoto and Sanchez will be top. Peralta is going to be real close with Peralta versus Yamamoto, though, because Peralta is going to end up with probably more innings. Yeah, I don't know.

They have basically the same ERA right now. They're separated by a hundredth of a point. Maybe I'm selling them a little bit short here. I don't know. Kate Horton, another solid start at the Pirates five innings, one run six strikeouts. His second half has just been incredible. It's a sub one ERA, a sub one whip in the second half. By or sell, Kate Horton will be one of the.

toughest pitchers to rank for next season. Yeah, I think I've said that several times. Basically, every time he started for the past, like, by, buy, bye, buy. Buy that one. I have no idea. I think he's good. I think he's certainly talented,

but he just has weirdly not missed enough bats to justify the kind of production we're getting out of him. And I know he keeps doing it. And so at some point, we're going to do the, oh, you just have to buy it. But I think, given an off season to get away from how good he was in the second half and really look at the underlying numbers, which are good, but not great. I'm not sure Kate Horton should be a top 30 starting pitcher next season, or even a top 36 pitcher.

It's tough because once you get to that range, there's just a lot of fungibility, but he's had a lot of injury issues over the years. it's one of those situations where fantasy players tend to be very, very scared of injuries unless they happen in the minors. And then it's like, well, it didn't impact me. So I don't, it doesn't matter to me. I think people like inadvertently end up thinking about that a lot. But he only had 34 innings last season or something. There's a there's been a long, I think both to his elbow and shoulder. He's going to end up with by.

by far a career high in innings. It just feels like there are a lot more ways for things to go wrong for Kate Horton in 2026 than for them to go right, especially if you're going to have to pay a top 30 starting pitcher price. All right, next up, Mackenzie Gore pitched well against the Braves, 5 and a third

shutout innings with five strikeouts. Buy or sell, this is just who McKenzie Gore is. Tons of strikeouts, ERA around 4, and a whip that is untenable. Basically, there's a, not really any more untapped potential here from McKenzie Gord. This is just who he is. Probably by.

I think... I think the only way is if he gets traded. I think another team might be able to get more out of him. I just don't trust the nationals to do that. Although, you know, it's funny because the guy I was thinking about comping him to is a guy who got traded last year. That's Hazis Lazzardo, who has kind of continued to be the same tantalizing but frustrating pitcher he always was.

I don't, I wouldn't hate a change of scenery and it kind of feels like the Nationals just need to do that because he is, I think, in his second arbitration season coming up. Like that's the thing about the Nationals is they, they nailed that Juan Soto trade. But it's not helping them now. And you look at it and like, well, C.J. Abrams is arbitration eligible and McKenzie Gore is about to get really expensive. And even James Wood, I think it was only going to have one more minutes. minimum season left. So like, man, they really need Harlan Santana to get to the majors and start making a difference.

But it's a weird spot that they're in. And I do think there's a decent chance McKenzie Gore gets traded next season. Yeah, I think 530 innings into his career, this is probably just what he is, unfortunately. Yuri Perez's great start got cut short because of a rain delay, unfortunately. At the Rockies, five shutout innings with six strikeouts to zero walks. Previous seven starts before this one, a 784 ERA and a 139 whip. By our cell, Yuri Perez, will still be a top 100 pick next season. It will be in the drafts I'm in.

I can't say that's true for everyone, but I continue to believe that the talent is immense. Really like seeing the sweeper get good results today and see him have a little more confidence in that because he's been kind of searching for that third secondary. Like the slider's great. The change-up is good. The curveball's been really bad this season, and that was the one that he was trying to fix. So maybe, you know, the sweeper can be that answer for him

because the slider and change-up should be good against lefties. He doesn't necessarily need the curveball. So maybe the sweeper can just be kind of a righty killer for him. But, yeah, I fully, believe that Yuri Perez is going to be an impact pitcher as soon as next season. He's 57% started and gets the Mets next week. What do you think about that? Well, that went very poorly for him last time.

It was, I believe, four runs in two-thirds of an inning last time he faced the Mats. So there's some risk there, but I believe in the talent. So I'm probably just going to start him. We mentioned Shohay-Oatani. He threw five no-hit any. here against the Phillies, and he had five strikeouts to one walk in this one, just the second time that he's completed five in 13 starts this year. Buy or sell that Shohei Otani will be a viable starting pitcher in fantasy next season.

Oh, absolutely. Bye. I think there are still going to be workload limitations, but it's not going to be a hard cap like it is now. He's going to go six innings pretty regularly next season. It's going to be every sixth day. But he looks awesome. He looks, you know, he's had these starts where, like, the fastball is getting tons of whiffs. He's had starts where, like, the curveball looked really. I think he struck out Harper on a nasty curveball today. He just, he's incredibly talented.

So I do think Shoahatani, in a league where you can use him as a starting pitcher and you don't have to make that choice is probably going to be a top 40 starting pitcher next season. All right. let's wrap up here with some leftovers on the hitting side. Jerkson ProFar went, two for seven with a home run across the double header, having a huge second half here. And in just 70 games played, he has 14 homers, 53 run scored, nine steals, and an 835 OPS. So has been amazing since coming back from that suspension. Michael Bush, three for four with his 29th home run. And he's kind of struggled since the start of August.

But digging in, he's still hitting the ball extremely hard during that time. 25% strikeout rate is not terrible. Yeah, manageable. Seems pretty unlucky here. Just a 232 bat up during that time for Michael Bush. And it was bombs away for the Mets to hit four homers in this game. Lendor hit his 27th. Pete Alonzo hit his 35th.

Brett Batey hit his 17th home run. And last 31 games, he's hitting 327 with an OPS over 900. Again, that's Brett Bady. And Cedric Mullen's 1 for 4 with his 17th home run. But he has been God awful with the Mets. anything to add here on the hitting leftovers? Bush, I have started that first base ranking as well. I'll be writing about that for tomorrow's newsletter.

And I think there's a really interesting right outside of the top 12 grouping at first base. And I'm actually not sure. I have Tyler Soderstrum's 12th, but I don't know if he should be ahead of Michael Bush and Spencer Torkelson and Kyle Manzardo. That whole tier feels very similar. to me. And I'm not saying they'll all be the same price. I would guess Manzart is going to go behind them, but I think he deserves to be in that tier.

And Yeti Diaz is also in that tier. He's having another solid season. But that's an interesting one because Torkelson's an everyday guy. Soderstrom's basically an everyday guy, although I assume Soderstrom is going to be first base eligible. I actually did not check that. I just looked it up. He played 49 games there. Okay, so he will be.

Yeah. And I, the only thing with Manzardo versus Bush is Manzardo might have an easier path to everyday playing time. I wonder, because the deal with Justin Turner was just a one-year deal, maybe the Cubs just make Michael Bush an everyday player again? Maybe. It's just after two years of not doing it, I, it's tough to project that. Yeah. Brett Beat Beatty, as I mentioned, has been really good over his last 31 games here. Him and Caleb Durbin are both second and third base eligible.

Who do you like more? Brett Beatty or Caleb Durbin? I think I like Durbin more. Yeah. There's like a little bit more power and speed there. But, you know, credit to Brett Beatty because everyone kind of wrote him off. You know, he was the top prospect. There was not much fanfare for him.

I kind of wish the Mets would just play him even more. Just play him against right. playing him against lefties. It's not like they have other great options, right? Just put Vientos at T.H. Beatty at third base and just let's see what these guys can do. But when he's played recently, Brett Beatty has looked really good. Call to the bullpen for the Braves in game one of their doubleheader.

Ryssel Iglesias picked up his 26 save. The Cubs. Are you kidding me? Andrew Kittred pitched the seventh inning of this game with a three-run lead. Brad Keller got the ninth. He picked up his third save. second in as many days. Last week in Tout Wars,

I picked up Brad Keller, used him, no saves. This week in Tout Wars, I picked up Andrew Kittridge, used him over Brad Keller, and Keller has two saves in two days. So, I give up. I mean, this is this is why I hate talking about relievers. I hate it.

It's already hard enough to try to predict how players are going to perform. And then you're trying to predict how players are going to perform based on 50, 60 inning sample sizes. But not only that, even if you get how they perform right, that is not the most important thing for relievers in fantasy. Because it's what some other guy is going to do

and what order he's going to use these guys in. And it's not always the best guy gets the best situation. So it's frustrating, man. It's really hard. When I saw the box score for this game, I sat and stared at my computer screen for a minestrate just shaking my head. A minestrate.

Nothing against Brad Keller. It's just the decision that I made to use him last week and now bench him this week and he has two saves in two days. It's just so... God. It's one of those things where it's not even like... You know, if they saved Keller for the 9th and Kittredge just didn't pitch,

that'd be one thing because then it's clearly, well, okay, they were saving Keller for the highest leverage situation and Kittridge was going to come in if needed. after that and it didn't happen. No, they proactively used Kittridge early and saved Keller, which is the opposite of what they had been doing before. So it's just, I don't know.

I guess it's Keller now? I don't know. I don't know either. For the Guardians, Cade Smith got the ninth inning with the one-run lead. He gave up a solo homer to carry Carpenter. He took his sixth blown save, but wound up with the win because on the other side for the Tigers,

Will Vest got the 10th inning, the Manford Man on second base. He gave up four runs on five hits and took his fourth loss. For the athletics, Hogan Harris got the final four outs with just a one-run lead, picked up his third save. For the Cardinals, Jojo Romero was used in the eighth. Riley O'Brien got the ninth. He picked up his fifth save.

For the Orioles, Keegan Aiken, got the ninth inning with a one-run lead. He allowed a hit, but Shrokhout two for his sixth save. For the Yankees, David Bednar got the ninth with a two-run lead. He gave up a solo homer, but picked up his 25th save. The Yankees, by the way, they were up 10 to 1 in this game. They wound up winning 10 to 9. So we talk about the Dodgers bullpen. The Yankees bullpen has been a disaster as well.

For the Astros, Brian Abrae, you got the final four outs. He also allowed three hits and a walk but picked up his seventh save. For the Marlins, Ronnie Enriquez got the final four outs. He did allow two runs, but picked up his seventh save. The Marlins do not have a closer and they never will ever again. For the Giants, Ryan Walker got the ninth with the game tied. He gave up a run on a walk in two hits. He took his sixth loss.

For the Dodgers, Blake Trinan, got the ninth with the game tied. He gave up a three-run homer to the backup catcher. I think it was like Raphael Marchand or something like that. So Trinanan took his sixth loss. And on the other side for the Phillies, Yohan Duran came in, he locked it down, and picked up his 31st save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Wednesday,

we have Johan Oviedo up against the Cubs, Tyler Wells at the White Sox, Justin Verlander at the D-Backs, Ian Seymour, home against the Blue Jays, Christian Javier, home against the Rangers, and Ryan Weathers at the Rockies. I guess Wells, I'm less confident than you or Scott seem to be. I don't hate Javier against the Rangers, so those would be my two favorites. And by the way, I just want to point out, the Marlins are one of two teams that have had six different players,

get at least three saves this season. The other one is the Diamondbacks who have had a closer at multiple points and then that guy has gotten hurt. So the Marlins are very, and the Phillies are also, they have five with at least three saves, but again, they have had a closer for most of the season.

The Marlins are the one team that just at no point in the season have they had a legit closer. It's just different guys seemingly every, You know, someone in the comments said they're saving money, why pay for saves in arbitration? Maybe there's something there. You just keep those saves totals low. Nobody gets a big arbitration bill. Yeah.

But that is, yeah, that's been by far the most frustrating team for saves. And you know what? I can't kill Clayton McCullough because he's actually done a pretty good job this year. Oh, no. I think he's a good manager. Yeah. It's frustrating for fantasy, but. Yeah.

They don't have like one standout closer, like closer caliber pitcher either. So I get it. That's fair. I agree with you on Wednesday here. I like Tyler Wells, Christian Javier. Verlander's pitching well. The D-back's tough, man. They hit the ball so well.

So that can go either way. I like Seymour too. I like the talent, but man, the Blue Jays are just tough too. Yeah, it's just a tough matchup for that one. And then Thursday, I mean, this is one of the worst groups of pitchers that I've seen. Look, Jonah Tong, we think there's upside, but you can't use him after his last start. and he's facing the Padres here. Stephen Kolek against the Mariners.

Colin Ray at the Reds. Kepovic against the Yankees. You say Kukuchi at the Brewers. I can't. If I had to recommend one, I guess it would be Kolek against the Mariners. Yeah, if you put a gun to my head, I was going to say maybe Ray against the Reds,

but that's a terrible place to pitch. And don't put a gun at my head. That's rude. Yeah. Kolek has been pitching well. He gets a lot of ground balls, but it could go very poorly as well. So get your streamers in on Wednesday,

and hopefully there are something for the weekend, too. We'll update you on that over the next couple days. We're going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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